Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-10-07
LOOKING AFTER LOST CARS.
A Product of Raiiroading by Which,
Track is Kept of Rolling stock.

Track Is Kept of Rolling stock.
Car chasers are among the most inn
portant employees of the great trunk lines
of railroads The title exactly describes
their business. On some railroads they
are called travelling car agents. The de-
partment head who employs them is also
called variously the car agent, the car
accountant or the superintendent of roll
ing stock. These officials have as many
as a dozen assistants on some of the great
roads, nine or ten being clerks at $50 or
$40 month. and the rest being chasers,
who travel all over the country ON free
passes hunting up missing cars, and who
receive 1920 or 500 a month and ex-
penses.
Great railroads have immense numbers
of cars. The Central railroad of New
Jersey has about $4,000 of all sorts; the
Pennsylvania railroad, 10000 or 10000.
These cars are at the present moment in
every state in the Union. They go wher-
ever the freight with which they are
loaded is billed to, and thus are scattered
from Winnipeg to Mexico and Los Angeles
to Bangor. a most minute and thorough
system, obtaining on all railroads except
the very smallest, records every move
ment of every car. The system operates
at all junction points, where the agents
record the ownership and number Of
every car that passes from their road
to connecting line, and Immediately
notify the roads whose cars are
thus in motion, as well as the
car accountant of their own road. These
notifications are made by postal card. In
each general office car account books are
kept, and the movements of the COM
pany's own cars are recorded from day
to day. Whenever loaded car is
emptied on foreign road that road uses
it to carry load of freight back in the
direction of the road to which the car be-
longs 1t pays at the rate of seven
eighths cents a mile for this use of its
neighbours property in this way, and if
it should happen that there was no
freight to be shipped in that direction
within a reasonably short time the empty
car is sent along and mileage is paid on
it as if it were laden.
1t is when a number of cars are lost
sight of that travelling agent is sent out.
Sometimes it happens that the cars are
on little branch roads idle and overlooked,
sometimes they have fallen into the
hands of a company that is short of cars
and full of business, and is using every
foreign car it can get, and sometimes
other equally simple causes delay it. If
it is in use by company short of cars,
that company pays mileage on it, until it
sometimes happens that a car is worn
out and paid for before it is returned, or
else it is never returned at ALL If car
chaser demands the return of his COM
pany's cars, they are sent home, but
often others are seized and put to use
when his back is turned and he is travel
ing elsewhere. If car is smashed up in
a railroad accident it is either rebuilt. a
new one is made, or the price of the car
is paid to the owners by the company on
whose track the smash up occurred.
Every contingency is provided for in
the system that has grown up among the
great roads. Recently the master car
builders of the country agreed on set of
schedule of prices for every conceivable
damage to cars, and the result is going to
be that the rolling stock of all the roads
will grow more and more uniform in
style and quality, since it is agreed that
only serviceable parts shall be put ON cars
| that need mending, no matter how eX-
pensive and fanciful those parts may
have been originally. New York Sun.